The present invention relates generally to roof decking membrane welding and attachment systems, and more particularly to a new and improved roof decking membrane welding and attachment system, and a method of implementing the same, wherein improved or enhanced strength and failure-resistance attributes or properties, characteristic of the roof decking membrane, are able to be achieved.
In the building industry, roof decking components or structural members conventionally have insulation slabs or substrates disposed thereon, and weather-protection membranes are in turn adapted to be secured atop the insulation slabs or substrates so as to protect the same from deterioration which would otherwise occur as a result of being exposed to various environmental or weather conditions. The membranes and the underlying insulation slabs or substrates are conventionally secured to the underlying roof decking by means of fastener assemblies which may comprise, for example, a combination of roofing, seam, or membrane plates, batten strips, or batten bars, which are adapted to be disposed atop the membranes, whereupon, in turn, suitable bolt fasteners secure the plates, batten strips, or batten bars to the underlying roof decking. Examples of such membrane, plate, and batten strip or batten bar mounting systems are disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,034 which issued on Jun. 26, 2001 to Hulsey, U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,122 which issued on Feb. 13, 2001 to Hubbard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,786 which issued on May 2, 2000 to Hubbard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,116 which issued on Jan. 27, 1998 to Hasan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,671 which issued on Nov. 28, 1995 to Rathgeber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,685 which issued on May 10, 1994 to Rathgeber et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,699 which issued on Aug. 7, 1990 to Murphy, U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,828 which issued on May 30, 1989 to Murphy, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,188 which issued on Nov. 29, 1988 to Murphy.
With reference initially being made to FIGS. 1 and 2, a conventional PRIOR ART roof decking membrane welding or attachment system or technique is disclosed and is generally indicated by the reference character 10. Roof decking is disclosed at 12, and it is seen that the roof decking 12 has a corrugated configuration comprising a plurality of transversely spaced crest portions 14 and a plurality of transversely spaced root portions 16 interposed between the crest portions 14. An insulation slab or panel 18 is disposed atop the roof decking 12 and is adapted to be secured to the roof decking 12 by means of a plurality of, for example, transversely spaced bolt fasteners 20, only one of which is shown, which are adapted to be threadedly engaged within predetermined ones of the transversely spaced crest portions 14 of the roof decking 12. Environmental-protection or weather-resistant membranes are also adapted to be disposed and secured atop the insulation slab or panel 18, and in accordance with conventional techniques, a seam plate or membrane plate 22, similar, for example, to that disclosed within the aforenoted Hulsey patent, is adapted to be secured upon the upper surface portion of the insulation slab or panel 18 by means of one of the bolt fasteners 20. A right lateral side edge portion 24, as viewed in the drawing figures, of a first membrane member or component 26 is disposed beneath the seam plate or membrane plate 22 so as to therefore effectively be trapped beneath the seam or membrane plate 22 with the free edge region 28 of the first membrane member or component 26 extending outwardly beyond a first right side portion 30 of the seam or membrane plate 22.
A second membrane member or component 32 is adapted to be fixedly secured to or mated with the first membrane member or component 26 so as to effectively provide continuity with the first membrane member or component 26, thereby, in turn, providing continuous weather or environmental protection for the underlying insulation panel 18 across the entire lateral extent thereof. Accordingly, the second membrane member or component 32 is disposed over the seam or membrane plate 22 and the bolt fastener 20 such that a left lateral side edge portion 34, as viewed in the drawing figures, of the second membrane member or component 32 is able to be fixedly attached to the underlying first membrane member or component 26 within a region of the first membrane member or component 26 which is disposed upon a second side portion 36 of the seam or membrane plate 22 disposed diametrically opposite the first side portion 30. The first and second membrane members or components 26,32 are adapted to be, for example, welded together by means of suitable conventional heat or other techniques, and the extent of the welded overlapped membrane region is schematically illustrated as being within the dotted lined circle 38. Alternatively, in lieu of the overlapped regions of the first and second membranes being welded together, the overlapped regions of the first and second membranes may be adhesively bonded together. In either case, it is critically important that the first and second membranes that are fixedly connected together be capable of withstanding, for example, wind lift or load forces so as to remain intact and therefore in fact be capable of continuously protecting the underlying insulation slab or panel under various environmental or weather conditions.
As can readily be appreciated from a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2, FIG. 1 illustrates the roof decking system or assembly 10 in the absence of wind load or lift conditions, while FIG. 2 illustrates the roof decking system or assembly 10 under wind load or lift conditions. Accordingly, it can be appreciated still further that under wind load conditions, negative pressure conditions disposed above the roof decking membrane members 26,32 causes the membranes 26,32 to effectively be sucked upwardly as schematically illustrated within FIG. 2. It is specifically noted that as a result of such wind loads and the suction forces effectively impressed upon the membranes 26,32, and as a result of the particular mode or manner by means of which the first and second membranes 26,32 are welded together, when such wind loads and suction forces act upon the membranes 26,32, only the single ply first membrane 26 is disposed in contact with the left edge, left end, or left side portion 36 of the seam or membrane plate 22, as noted at 40, and is forcefully moved toward a vertically upward 90xc2x0 orientation with respect to, for example, the right lateral side edge portion 24 of the membrane 26 which is simply disposed beneath the seam plate or membrane plate 22 and does not play any interactive role in connection with resisting or counteracting such uplifting wind loads or forces. Accordingly, such forces or loads acting upon the membrane 26, and the vulnerable attachment point of the membrane 26 with respect to the membrane plate 22, often leads to failure of the membrane 26 in the form of tearing of the membrane 26 around, for example, the left side edge portion 36 of the seam or membrane plate 22 which, in turn, eventually leads to the membrane 26 becoming separated from that portion of the membrane 26 which remains entrapped beneath the seam or membrane plate 22.
In addition to the aforenoted forces or loads acting upon the membrane 26 and its vulnerable attachment point portion 40 with respect to the seam or membrane plate 22, such wind loads or forces acting upon both membranes 26,32, through means of the welded region 38, and in particular as concentrated at the attachment point portion or region 40, will also tend to impress uplifting forces upon the seam or membrane plate 22. These forces or loads, in turn, cause forces or loads to be impressed, by means of the membrane plate 22, upon the bolt fastener 20 thereby tending to, over a period of time, cause loosening of the bolt fastener 20 within the underlying roof decking 12, thereby again, leading to the effective failure of the membranes 26,32 protecting the underlying insulation slab or panel 18. These effects or results are exacerbated even further in view of the current tendency for roof decking systems to be utilizing larger-sized roof decking membranes. For example, the weather protection membranes 26,32 have conventionally comprised membranes having a width dimension of approximately six feet (6.00xe2x80x2), however, within recent times, and in accordance with new industry standards or norms, membranes having width dimensions on the order of, for example, nine feet (9.00xe2x80x2), seem to be utilized more often. Consequently, such newer membranes comprise or cover square footage areas which are substantially fifty percent (50%) greater than those of the conventional or previously utilized membranes, and accordingly, such larger membranes represent or generate enhanced wind loads or forces acting upon the membranes, the seam or membrane plates, and the bolt fasteners securing the membranes and the seam plates to the underlying insulation panels.
Therefore, membrane and bolt fastener assembly failures are likely to increase, unless the aforenoted problems are adequately addressed. A proposed solution to the problem has been to simply increase the number of attachment sites at which the seam plates and bolt fasteners can be secured to the underlying insulation panels and roof decking, however, this is not a viable solution for several reasons. For example, the number of attachment sites, or more particularly, the array or arrangement of the attachment sites, is predetermined, or in effect dictated, by means of the underlying roof decking in view of the fact that the bolt fasteners must be threadedly engaged within the crest portions of the roof decking. Conventionally, the predetermined distance defined between adjacent corrugations of the roof decking, as measured, for example, from crest to crest, is six inches (6.00xe2x80x3), and in accordance with conventional techniques for affixing the membranes to the underlying roof decking, the seam plate and bolt fastener assemblies are secured to alternative crest portions of the roof decking such that the predetermined distance defined between adjacent seam plate and bolt fastener assemblies is twelve inches (12.00xe2x80x3). Therefore, if additional attachment sites, at which additional seam plate and bolt fastener assemblies would be installed, were to be employed, the additional seam plate and bolt fastener assemblies would be installed within those crest portions of the roof decking which do not currently have seam plate and bolt fastener assemblies installed therein, thereby effectively doubling the number of seam plate and bolt fastener assemblies used to secure the membranes to the underlying roof decking. However, the effective doubling of the seam plate and bolt fastener assemblies renders the attachment system prohibitively expensive in terms of both hardware costs as well as man-hour installation costs.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved roof decking membrane welding attachment system, and a method of implementing the same, wherein stronger wind force or wind load resistance values will effectively be developed or inherently provided within the membrane member or component underlying the seam or membrane plate such that the membrane member or component underlying the seam or membrane plate will not readily experience or undergo failure, when the insulation-protection, welded membranes are subjected to negative or suction wind forces or wind loads, so as to effectively prevent the separation of the membrane member or component from its disposition beneath the seam or membrane plate and thereby maintain the structural integrity of the membrane system so as to retain its weather and environmental protection for the underlying insulation panel.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved roof decking membrane attachment system, and a method of implementing the same.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved roof decking membrane attachment system, and a method of implementing the same, so as to effectively overcome the various operational and structural drawbacks and disadvantages characteristic of conventional PRIOR ART roof decking membrane systems.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved roof decking membrane attachment system, and a method of implementing the same, wherein as a result of the particularly unique manner in which the membrane members are welded or attached with respect to the various structural components of the overall membrane system or assembly, stronger wind force or wind load resistance values will effectively be developed or inherently provided within the membrane member or component underlying the seam or membrane plate.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved roof decking membrane attach-ment system, and a method of implementing the same, wherein as a result of the particularly unique manner in which the membrane members are welded or attached with respect to the various structural components of the overall membrane system or assembly, stronger wind force or wind load resistance values will effectively be developed or inherently provided within the membrane member or component underlying the seam or membrane plate such that the membrane member or component underlying the seam or membrane plate will not readily experience or undergo failure when the insulation-protection, welded membranes are subjected to negative or suction wind forces or wind loads.
A last object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved roof decking membrane attach-ment system, and a method of implementing the same, wherein as a result of the particularly unique manner in which the membrane members are welded or attached with respect to the various structural components of the overall membrane system or assembly, stronger wind force or wind load resistance values will effectively be developed or inherently provided within the membrane member or component underlying the seam or membrane plate such that the membrane member or component underlying the seam or membrane plate will not readily experience or undergo failure when the insulation-protection, welded membranes are subjected to negative or suction wind forces or wind loads so as to effectively prevent the separation of the membrane member or component from its disposition beneath the seam or membrane plate and thereby maintain the structural integrity of the membrane system so as to retain its weather and environmental protection for the underlying insulation panel.
The foregoing and other objectives are achieved in accordance with the teachings and principles of the present invention through the provision of a new and improved roof decking membrane attachment system, and a method of implementing the same, wherein the membrane member or component underlying the membrane or seam plate is folded over upon itself in accordance with a single-fold, dual-ply, single-weld attachment technique. In accordance with a first embodiment of the invention, the membrane underlying the seam plate is folded over the seam plate and bolt fastener and re-attached to itself along with the second membrane, while in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention, the membrane underlying the seam plate is folded over upon itself so as to be disposed beneath the seam plate. In either case, stronger wind force or wind load resistance values are effectively able to be developed or inherently provided within the membrane member underlying the seam plate such that the membrane member underlying the seam plate will not readily experience or undergo failure when the insulation-protection, welded membranes are subjected to negative or suction wind forces or wind loads. In turn, the attachment technique and lack of failure within the membrane effectively prevents the separation of the membrane member from its disposition beneath the seam plate and thereby enables the membrane system to maintain its structural integrity and thereby retain its weather and environmental protection for the underlying insulation panel.